East Rutherford, NJ — Southwind Chrome needed every inch of the stretch to take the Friday night (June 12) $22,500 Preferred Trot feature at The Meadowlands, which made one simulcast player in Canada very happy, as he or she walked away with the only winning 20-cent Pick-6 ticket, which was worth $39,243.

Southwind Chrome and driver Scott Zeron were up in time in the featured Preferred for trotters at The Meadowlands Friday night. Lisa photo.

The Jeff Cullipher-trained Southwind Chrome, no stranger to The Meadowlands winner’s circle having won two straight at the mile track in December, was the figure horse in the Preferred for trotters off a superb second-place finish to Manchego one week ago, when the super mare went the fastest trotting mile of the year in the sport of 1:50.3.

Despite that, it was the Ron Burke-schooled Mission Accepted who was sent to the gate as the even-money public choice, and driver Yannick Gingras had that one on the lead at the half in :54.3. At that point, Scott Zeron moved Southwind Chrome out of the six-hole and started to make his way toward the leader.

“It looked in the program like all of the inside horses would be leaving the gate,” said Zeron. “So I opted to race from off the pace. First up from sixth is no easy trip but he really toughed it out.”

Zeron and Southwind Chrome were just 1-1/4 lengths behind the leader at three-quarters after making steady progress around the far turn, setting the stage for a cutthroat stretch duel.

Through the lane, it looked like Southwind Chrome poked a head in front at the eighth pole before Mission Accepted came back determinedly to get a slight edge with a sixteenth to go only to have Southwind Chrome have one final surge right before the wire to prevail by a nose in 1:51.

“That would be a good explanation (of what happened through the stretch),” said Zeron. “He really battled. Jeff (Cullipher) is aiming him for the (July 4) Cutler. His form is impeccable right now.”

A 5-year-old son of Chapter Seven-Counter Pointe, Southwind Chrome returned $4.60 as the 6-5 second choice for owners Pollack Racing and Jeff Cullipher. He now has 12 wins from 35 lifetime starts and earnings of $218,960.

The giant Pick-6 payout started from a modest $6,843 carryover and was keyed in the first leg by a longshot as the Eric Abbatiello-trained and driven Broadway Bruiser left the gate quickly in the fourth race, worked out a pocket trip and then charged through the inside late to record a 40-1 upset. The middle four legs of the wager were won by ‘haveable’ horses, whose odds were 5-1, 2-1, 2-1 and 1-2, respectively.

A Little More: A formful night of racing saw seven favorites click on the 13-race program. Overall, 10 races were won by horses whose odds were 2-1 or less.

Ten different drivers visited the winner’s circle with Gingras leading the way with three victories while Tim Tetrick scored twice.

Wagering at the Big M remained remarkably consistent as a total of $2,650,358 was pushed through the windows, upping the streak of programs with wagering of at least $2.5 million to 10.

Racing resumes Saturday at 7:15 p.m.